ORLANDO – It wasn’t fully clear at the time, but the political ground was shifting under Rick Perry’s feet from virtually the moment he arrived here in Orlando for the Republican presidential debate and Florida GOP straw poll. Just how much the ground shifted wasn’t apparent until early Saturday evening, when Florida Gov. Rick Scott announced the poll’s results: Perry, and fellow leader Mitt Romney, and the rest of the Republican field finished far behind longshot winner Herman Cain.
It was a huge victory for Cain in a key state. After all, Gov. Scott said repeatedly that the straw poll would choose the next president. “I believe whoever wins this straw poll on Saturday will be the Republican nominee and I believe the Republican nominee will be the next president,” Scott told Fox News earlier in the week. And Perry himself said just hours before the poll that, “I’ve got all my hopes on Florida.” (Of course, shortly after uttering those words, Perry got on a plane for Michigan, passing up an opportunity to address straw poll voters in person before the balloting, which probably didn’t help his chances.)
